Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s the kind of good news story we could all use a little more of right now. Cape Breton Island’s Mary Janet MacDonald has brought hope and cheer to thousands during the COVID-19 pandemic through her love of cooking and people. Almost every single Sunday afternoon since the first pandemic restrictions were put in place […] Read more
Tunes and wooden spoons
Dishing out recipes, music and love, a Cape Bretoner shows how a social media presence can be good both for the heart and the business
Mexico opens door for GM corn in feed, industrial uses
U.S. 'disappointed' in Mexico's new decree
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico on Monday scrapped a deadline to ban genetically modified corn for animal feed and industrial use amid trade tensions with the United States — but retained plans to prohibit use of the GM grain for human consumption, as well as the herbicide glyphosate. The move, approved in a government […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Earthquake to have little effect on pulse markets
Such disasters don't often blow back on agrifood commodity costs
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria on Monday last week, taking the lives of more than 40,000 people, may not have a major effect on pulse markets, according to one analyst. Jon Driedger from Leftfield Commodity Research in Winnipeg said that while natural disasters like an earthquake can take on […] Read more
Finding the sweet spot for lupin
The pulse crop has agronomic merits but more production depends on increased product development and marketing
Reading Time: 4 minutes No, it’s not the wild lupin, the blue-flowered plant that’s a common sight in roadside ditches, particularly in the Maritimes — it’s inedible to livestock and humans. Rather, it’s the sweet white lupin and the blue lupin, and they have impressive credentials — high protein (35 to 38 per cent), 30 per cent dietary fibre, […] Read more
Federal NDP ag critic to handle food inflation file
Mini-shuffle follows new critic portfolio
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s federal New Democrats have appointed their critic for agriculture and agri-food to a new point position on a major issue for the fourth-ranked opposition party. After the House of Commons resumed sitting last Monday (Jan. 30), NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Friday named Alistair MacGregor, MP for the Vancouver Island riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, to […] Read more
Borderline city hosts interprovincial food trade pilot
Trade barrier on pause for two years for food businesses serving Lloydminster
Reading Time: 3 minutes The idea of loosening interprovincial trade in certain foods made by provincially-inspected processors will get a major test in one of Canada’s very few province-crossing municipalities. The Saskatchewan, Alberta and federal governments on Jan. 19 announced the start of a two-year pilot project within the limits of Lloydminster, a city of over 31,000 people straddling […] Read more
Germany considering withdrawal from crop-based biofuels by 2030
Lawmakers seek to boost biofuel made from wastes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters — Germany’s government is considering proposals to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food or animal feed crops by 2030, the German biofuels industry association (VDB) said on Tuesday, adding the measure could increase carbon emissions. German environment minister Steffi Lemke said Jan. 17 she will soon send proposals to […] Read more
Bolivia farm region blocks borders, grain transport in protests
Reading Time: 3 minutes Santa Cruz/La Paz | Reuters — Protesters in Bolivia’s farming region of Santa Cruz are blocking highways out of the province, threatening to snarl the domestic transport of grains and food, as anger simmers following the arrest of local governor Luis Camacho. The region, a stronghold of the conservative opposition to socialist President Luis Arce, […] Read more
U.S. FDA reported weighing CBD regulation in food, supplements
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to make recommendations on how to regulate the use of popular cannabis compound CBD in food and supplements, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing agency officials. After weighing the evidence on the compound’s safety, the FDA will decide within months how to […] Read more
French insect-based ingredients maker Ynsect to expand in North America
U.S. plant would use Ardent Mills' flour milling byproducts
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — French company Ynsect said on Tuesday it had signed deals to build insect ingredient production sites in the United States and in Mexico as the firm kicks off what it says will be the world’s largest insect farm. Ynsect breeds mealworms that produce proteins for aquaculture, livestock, pet food, fertilizers and […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
